Greetings from the Kilopede

This is quite a surprise! Thank you! I got your letter this morning and nearly fell out of my pagoda. I've never tried writing a blog before, unless you count the time I started interviewing all those spindle beetles who kept mistaking me for Captain Tamarac. That isn't exactly the same, though.

I never did find out who Captain Tamarac was, by the way. None of the spindle beetles seemed to know.

I'm glad to hear that the mountain's doing well! I wish I'd gotten to take a better look at it before I left. If only the Moler Festival were a few days later... Of course, the way things have been going, I still may not get there in time. I suppose I should write something about where I am at the moment. I still haven't reached Mount Moler. I think the Kilopede must have taken a wrong turn somewhere, maybe where it had to go around all the paper kite lizards by the lake. I don't know why this always happens; every time I travel by Kilopede, I somehow end up miles away from my destination. With all the eyes they have, you'd think they would always know where to go.

Now that I think about it, though, they almost always end up somewhere much more interesting than where I intended. Hmm. Maybe they know what they're doing after all. I've always wondered what goes on in those mile-long brains of theirs.

Oh! That's all I can write for now. The Kilopede just stopped to let someone cross it - I don't know who, they're about half a mile closer to its head than I am - and there's something off to the right that I have to get a picture of. I'm going to miss the Moler Festival for certain, but it will happen again next year, and I'll probably never be able to find this place again. As far as I know, the Kilopede is the only one who knows where we are - if even it does. It's a good thing I still have my suitcase packed. I'll try to send this by the first postbird I find after I jump off. I'll write more later...

Nigel